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Thread: Pioneers of Science on the science channel

  1. 2011-Oct-22, 08:23 PM #1
    R.A.F.
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    Pioneers of Science on the science channel

    On the commercial advertizing this new show, a list of fiction writers are shown along with the actual science idea they proposed...

    Phillip K. Dick is "associated" with virtual reality.

    Issac Asimov, with robotics.

    H.G. Wells, with Time Travel, and

    George Lucas, with energy weapons.


    Wait a minute....how does Lucas fit in there? Because of the popularity of Star Wars?? I always thought "pioneers" were "the first"...not the most "popular", so that doesn't "work"

    Guess the producers of this show never watched Star Trek.
    Last edited by R.A.F.; 2011-Oct-22 at 08:28 PM. Reason: deciding on best "example"
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  2. 2011-Oct-22, 08:55 PM #2
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    I would have said Dick was "associated" with issues about reality, of which VR was but one aspect. After all, Stanley Weinbaum was writing about VR when Dick was 7 years old.

    Asimov and robotics - he wasn't the first but in a sense he was the definitive writer on the subject, so I'd have no argument with that. Earlier stories of note (such as RUR) count as proto-robot stories.

    Wells and time travel - again, he wasn't first, but again he was kind of definitive. Prior to The Time Machine, it was all, like, "What if a Connecticut Yankee found himself in King Arthur's court?" stuff. With The Time Machine, it was a thoughtful consideration of how time travel might work, speculations about evolution, parallels drawn between biological and social evolution, speculations about the end of the world, exploration-based adventure, deviant romance and probably a few things I missed despite reading the book 12 times. The Time Machine is possibly the most intense distillation of what science fiction is in fewer than 100 pages.

    George Lucas? Yeah, there were no stories about energy weapons before Star Wars. Or Star Trek. Or Dune. Or Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr stories. Or real life. Or all those stories about death rays in the pulps of the 1930s.
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  3. 2011-Oct-24, 07:01 PM #3
    R.A.F.
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    To be clear, I really have nothing against Lucas...he just seems so "out of place" in that list.


    I mean, when you hear the name "George Lucas", you certainly don't think of all the science fiction he has wrote...you think of Star Wars...

    All the others listed, are famous for being writers.


    Guess I'm over thinking this...
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  4. 2011-Oct-24, 07:06 PM #4
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    Lucas wasn't even the first to portray an energy beam destroying a planet, IIRC that was "Doc" Smith's Sunbeam.
    STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
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  5. 2011-Oct-25, 09:39 PM #5
    Terran
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    Quote Originally Posted by R.A.F. View Post
    Wait a minute....how does Lucas fit in there? Because of the popularity of Star Wars?? I always thought "pioneers" were "the first"...not the most "popular", so that doesn't "work"
    Lightsabers. Granted, “energy weapon” seems to be a bit too much of a generalization...
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  6. 2012-Feb-14, 12:41 AM #6
    R.A.F.
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    After a 4 month wait, the Science channel will be airing the Asimov "robotics" episode of Pioneers of Science on Wednesday night...


    Took em' long enough...
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  7. 2012-Feb-14, 10:17 PM #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by R.A.F. View Post
    After a 4 month wait, the Science channel will be airing the Asimov "robotics" episode of Pioneers of Science on Wednesday night...
    I tried to look up that show, but didn't have any luok. I googled "Pioneers of Science" and just found a reference to a book's name, no mention of a show on the science channel. I finally looked up "asimov science channel" and it seems the show you're thinking of is called "Prophets of Science Fiction."
    I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

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  8. 2012-Feb-14, 11:09 PM #8
    R.A.F.
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    Aw crap....you are of course correct...


    I blame old age...


    Although there is one thing good about getting old...restaurant discounts.
    Last edited by R.A.F.; 2012-Feb-14 at 11:10 PM. Reason: added "there is"
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  9. 2012-Feb-14, 11:19 PM #9
    R.A.F.
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    Hey...wait a minute....I got it right in the OP.

    I admit my latest post had confused the name...however it is similiar when one is not paying attention...(first letter the same "P"...third letter the same "O"...sixth letter the same "E"....and eighth letter the same "S").


    So just maybe i'm not old, yet.
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  10. 2012-Feb-15, 01:28 PM #10
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    I knew my great grandfather was really old when he started trying to justify his mistakes by citing letter positions.

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  11. 2012-Feb-15, 11:19 PM #11
    R.A.F.
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    Why you young whippersnapper...
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  12. 2012-Feb-18, 05:00 AM #12
    Luckmeister
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    Well back in my day ...................Ummm what were you talking about?
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  13. 2012-Mar-09, 10:29 PM #13
    publiusr
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    I finally managed to watch an episode on Heinlein. I saw this company in the powersuit segment:
    http://theyshallwalk.org/

    It almost looked too good.

    The young man did a pirouette in the suit which seemed to be more body english than what would be capable with just two buttons.

    The DARPA powerloader type deal looked sensable--but after the Sgt. York--who knows...
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